#lantern glow

From this ask game:

“How easy or difficult is it for your character to say ‘I love you?’ Can they say it without meaning it?”

“Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.”

The answers to these two questions are related!

Lantern Glow lives in a very chaotic household that is, frankly, stressful to deal with a lot of the time. Their struggles with puberty and identity alone get them down a lot of the time, and it’s all made even worse by their mom stressing out and their siblings being annoying. At this point they can expect to wake up every day to their sisters getting up in their space and their mom in a miserable mood.

So what if that doesn’t happen?

It should be a relief those rare times that Lantern wakes up to a calm house, where even Mama Dash is in a good mood. But instead it puts them on edge. This isn’t normal. Surely something’s going to happen to make it all blow up. Sometimes that’s exactly what does happen, so even if the entire day goes well they spend all of it just waiting for the other horseshoe to drop. In the process they end up ruining a good time for themselves.

AHHH THIS WAS GOING TO BE AN ADOPT AND THEN I FELL IN LOVE. DAMMIT. It’s too late now, I’m keeping her! 

2 dragon headshots (First is Snowflake, second is Sunburst)

Lantern Glow with a Butterfly on their nose

Nexus stuff

Ref sheets of how Solar, Eclipse, and Lunar first looked (Eclipse and Lunars October Arc refs)

And lastly Solar with his Sun

Thank you so much for asking!! Even though most of the ng cast doesn’t have any love interests in the story, that doesn’t mean all of the “single” characters wish to stay single forever, and it’s really fun to think through what their takes on love would be. Which are the following:

Laffy Taffy totally does not (/sarcasm) have a crush on one of her classmates. Their name is Nightmare Night and I first introduced them in this status! She’s definitely in that hormonal middle school era where crushes come much more quickly, but overall she is interested in finding someone who’ll be more than a friend to her.

Galatea is extremely social and has lots of friends at school, and while she isn't anywhere near seriously thinking of relationships in this stage of her childhood, it's been suggested to me that maybe she be somewhere on the ace/aro spectrum. It would certainly break stereotypes regarding asexuality, as my more recent work is known for, so I'm thinking about it as a possibility!

I like the idea of Blackberry Maple preferring a single life. He’s not asexual or anything, he just has a very wide network of friends and couldn’t see himself choosing one to spend the rest of his life with or choosing one location to settle down in forever. The Apple family farm is his home base, but he sees that as different from choosing a partner himself. His lifestyle is just not compatible with a steady monogamous partner.

I’m also toying with the idea of having Orchard Sunrise be not particularly interested in relationships, because getting married would mean losing her disability benefits /JOKE Though she does genuinely value her independence and knows that “who’s going to take care of you?” isn’t a good reason to look for a partner. She can get her caretaking requirements and companionship needs met through her other relationships. If there’s any interest at all, it would be an “if it happens it happens, if it doesn’t it doesn’t” attitude about romance and a complete lack of desire for children.

The real reason I’m thinking of this is because it would be funny as hell for Applejack’s dreams of having a child-in-law and grandchildren to rest on her most cringefail child because her two more competent children aren’t interested. I can definitely see Fireside Jam failing his way through a few relationships and learning some hard lessons before he settles down, but it is something he wants to do.

Bismuth Sun just gives me the vibe of someone who would want a partner. She puts in effort to prioritize her family even with her busy and stressful schedule because of how much she adores them, and she would be the same way with a romantic partner.

Outside gossipers wouldn’t think this to be very likely because of how they perceive their attitude, but Celestial Blessing would like to settle down with a lover someday too. Maybe even produce an heir to pass their knowledge on to. Of course they’re secure in themselves and devoted to their work so finding romance isn’t at the very top of their priority list; it’s not something they desperately seek out. But they would like it to happen eventually and hopefully not have to wait 15+ years to even start dating.

I like to think Evergreen Blaze has had a girlfriend at some point in his life, probably a fellow Wonderbolt or somepony who’s Wonderbolt-adjacent. I don’t imagine such a relationship being toxic per se, but Evergreen wouldn’t find it very fulfilling and he’s too emotionally stunted right now to admit to himself that he would much rather date a stallion.

Moonray Chill is one of those “straight” girls who just hasn’t found a boy she likes yet but is very close with her female friends! She enjoys going to sleepovers where they practice kissing boys on each other, cuddle in the same sleeping bags together, and (in the human au) admire each other’s bras. Just gal pal things! “Mom, what do you mean you’ve never done that with any girl friends?” She’s just an oblivious girl overall and that includes being oblivious to why she isn’t all that interested in boys.

Lantern is in a stage of life where they still feel like a child in many ways, so as of now they aren't thinking about relationships that much when they're still struggling to figure out who they even are. I like to think there are a few passing celebrity fancies, but even then it's a struggle of, "do I want them or do I want to BE them?" One day they'll figure it out, once they feel like they have more agency over the rest of their life.

Strawberry Breeze grows up into a proud bisexual mare whose standard for a partner is “whoever proves worthy.” It’d a high standard for someone with as big a personality as hers, but she’d say it’s perfectly achievable.

Daisy Wasp seems like she would be very selective with partnerships. If she had a partner during the main story, at age 15-ish (I don't plan for her to, just hypothetically), I think she would struggle because of all the time she volunteers as a peer conflict mediator. She wouldn't have much emotional energy left to commit herself to a lover's wants and needs. If she waited and got a partner when she's older, after she's sorted through the issues of her main arc, it would go better. Still, she would take her time to choose someone who also has good coping skills and boundaries so they can support each other through the highs and lows without being emotionally over-taxed.

You know those jokes about people who have never been in a relationship but still know a lot about how they should be (and how they should NOT be) from hearing all of their friends' stories about their relationships? Daisy Wasp is like that.